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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
→ my rating: ★★★½☆☆
“ Indeed my love, you must be mistaken — for it is absolutely impossible that he should ever have left you but with confusion, despair and precipitation.„
Going into this, I knew nothing about it at all besides it being a Austen novel. As is explained in the preface (introduction) this novel was written by her at 17 years old, and published posthumously.
To begin this review, I’d say it is not my favorite of hers, but the way it was built and told — in the form of letters and correspondences was very interesting. You don’t really learn much about the characters since all you get to see is what’s being said in the letters between these people. However, I think the mystery around them is positive in this instance.
All in all, as all Austen novels go, even these short and little ones, the love and all things surrounding it is written in a way only she could, and as much as I am not a fan of modern romance books, these drag me straight in.
fast-paced
Reviewed for Books and livres, 4.5 stars rounded up to 5 for this place.
I had to kick myself to write this review because it's hot outside, I'm finally on real vacation (still at home, *but* in vacation), there is noone around that I have to cook for (such a blessing, I hate cooking, especially twice a day, for months !) - my eldest manages her meals just fine. So yes, I'm lazy and then I started thinking that if I don't write this review now, I'll never do it, so I grabbed a glass of very good rosé gris and got to it. Not that I didn't like the book, I'd rather pick the book back and re-read it rather than write a review. Lazy, I tell you.
Originally, I was to read only Jane Austen's History of England for the #JaneAustenJuly2020, but since I found her juvenilia in this particular book that isn't that long, I inhaled it all. So now, I've read everything she has ever written and will be able to move on to What matters in Jane Austen by John Mullan.
It contains :
- Love and freindship (nothing to do with the film, which is adapted from Lady Susan),
- An unfinished novel in letters,
- The history of England (written when she was 16),
- A collection of letters,
- The female philosopher,
- The first act of a comedy,
- A tale.
All these texts are rather short, quickly and easily read, and I had a blast doing so. She has such a sense of humour, I do love her tongue in cheek wit, she's *so* funny ! Those texts are incomplete, lacking in depth and all that, but you see what a wonderful author she is to become. You find names in there, situations that you see in her later novels. I sometimes wished I had the complete story because I wanted to read more ! I understand why her brother, while she tried to hide her name - and yet ascertaining that she was a "lady", in a time where women published under male pseudonyms, he gave her away every time in brotherly pride.
Reading this book was an absolute treat and I highly recommend it to you.
I had to kick myself to write this review because it's hot outside, I'm finally on real vacation (still at home, *but* in vacation), there is noone around that I have to cook for (such a blessing, I hate cooking, especially twice a day, for months !) - my eldest manages her meals just fine. So yes, I'm lazy and then I started thinking that if I don't write this review now, I'll never do it, so I grabbed a glass of very good rosé gris and got to it. Not that I didn't like the book, I'd rather pick the book back and re-read it rather than write a review. Lazy, I tell you.
Originally, I was to read only Jane Austen's History of England for the #JaneAustenJuly2020, but since I found her juvenilia in this particular book that isn't that long, I inhaled it all. So now, I've read everything she has ever written and will be able to move on to What matters in Jane Austen by John Mullan.
It contains :
- Love and freindship (nothing to do with the film, which is adapted from Lady Susan),
- An unfinished novel in letters,
- The history of England (written when she was 16),
- A collection of letters,
- The female philosopher,
- The first act of a comedy,
- A tale.
All these texts are rather short, quickly and easily read, and I had a blast doing so. She has such a sense of humour, I do love her tongue in cheek wit, she's *so* funny ! Those texts are incomplete, lacking in depth and all that, but you see what a wonderful author she is to become. You find names in there, situations that you see in her later novels. I sometimes wished I had the complete story because I wanted to read more ! I understand why her brother, while she tried to hide her name - and yet ascertaining that she was a "lady", in a time where women published under male pseudonyms, he gave her away every time in brotherly pride.
Reading this book was an absolute treat and I highly recommend it to you.
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“Run mad as often as you chuse; but do not faint—”
Love and Freindship and Other Youthful Writings - Jane Austen
This is a fitting way to mark Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, a celebration of her juvenilia that shows both the brilliance and the rough edges of a young genius at work. These stories, written mostly in Austen’s late teens and early twenties, are a mix of the astonishing and the rough. Rough for their spelling and lack of subtlety, but astonishing for the sheer confidence, volume, and satirical edge of a writer not yet out of girlhood.
The famous "History of England" is perhaps Austen at her most silly, dismissing Elizabeth I with gleeful disdain while poking fun at the whole idea of “serious” history (promising to be a "prejudiced and ignorant historian"). It’s hilarious and revealing, Austen as comedian-in-chief of her family. In fact, much of the collection is laugh-out-loud funny: people forget whom they are married to, faint at every inconvenience, get caught in carriage accidents, commit murders, and dabble in adultery. This is Austen at her most salacious, scandalous, and action-packed—a far cry from the polite restraint of "Pride and Prejudice".
And yet, under all the absurdity and laughter, you can detect a seriousness. Even in these wild tales, Austen is already observing human folly, testing her powers of satire, and learning how to ridicule the vanities of her characters. These early commentaries on romance and the silly expectations of young women are the seeds of "Northanger Abbey", while names like Elinor, Marianne, and Dashwood hint at the "Sense and Sensibility" to come.
What makes this collection fascinating is the glimpse it gives into Austen’s development. Here she says outright what, in her mature works, she would learn to imply so mischievously. Her family was reluctant to publish these youthful writings because of their vulgarity—drunkenness, bawdy jokes, and impropriety abound—but this only highlights how polished her later work became. The wit, slyness, and control we admire in her great novels were all forged in these early experiments.
For the true Janeites, "Love and Freindship" is a treasure: scandalous, ridiculous, and full of laughter, but also the clearest evidence that Austen’s genius did not spring fully formed. It was earned through practice, through entertaining her family, through embracing both silliness and satire. These stories are a beacon of hope to young writers everywhere, showing that even the greatest had to start somewhere.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Child death, Medical content
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's a fever dream but it's Jane Austen's fever dream, so this was still entertaining and charming. I think not being familiar with the works it parodies probably meant I wasn't enjoying it to its full extent.
I was surprised that I found Lesley Castle even funnier than Love and Freindship - I had never heard of it before reading this, but I thought it was hilarious!
I was surprised that I found Lesley Castle even funnier than Love and Freindship - I had never heard of it before reading this, but I thought it was hilarious!
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes